PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA – Fnatic ONIC extended the Philippines’ M-Series Finals streak to five after outclassing reigning MPL Indonesia champion Team Liquid, 3-1, in the M6 World Championship upper bracket finals on Wednesday night at the IOI Grand Exhibition & Convention Center.
This marked the Sonics’ second M-Series Finals appearance in franchise history, following their M3 World Championship run.
There, the team led by Kairi “Kairi” Rayosdelsol and Allen “Baloyskie” Baloy lost to fellow Filipino squad Blacklist International via a sweep.
“So very proud to be honest. That Philippine pride is there, but most especially I’m proud of my players,” said Fnatic ONIC head coach Tony “Ynot” Senedrin.
A win away from securing their slot in the finale, Borris “Brusko” Parro (Tigreal) and King “K1NGKONG” Perez (Suyou) made initial rotations that allowed them to secure three quick kills inside the first three minutes of the match.
Those early rotations set the tone for the Sonics’ domination of Team Liquid in Game 4.
K1NGKONG tallied seven kills and seven assists against two deaths in the finals-clinching win, while Frince “Super Frince” Ramirez (Yve) supplied six kills and eight assists against two deaths after 14 minutes of action.
Team Liquid took a slim lead entering the 6th minute after getting a kill on Brusko’s Tigreal, but the Sonics quickly bounced back courtesy of a Super Frince double kill on Sultan “AeronnShikii” Muhammad (Irithel) and Aldhia “Aran” Aranda (Hilda) at the top lane.
From there, the Philippine champions tightly held, eventually securing the Lord in the 13th minute to complete the win.
Fnatic ONIC opened the series with a perfect outing, scoring a 10-0 Game 1 victory after just 11 minutes.
However, the team fell back to the ground hard after AeronnShikii (Claude) and Yehezkiel “Yehezkiel” Wiseman (Yve) starred in the Indonesian squad’s Game 2 win that tied the series at 1-all.
The Filipino squad, not wanting to fall to a 1-2 hole, recovered in time come Game 3 after another brilliant performance from Super Frince (Yve), who had his fingerprints all over the win with four kills and 11 assists against just one death.
The Sonics will have a three-day preparation before heading to the best-of-seven finals on Sunday at the Axiata Arena.
They will face off against the winner of the lower bracket finals.
